Staff

Doctors

Dr. Kirsten Huston

Dr. Huston and her husband, Jeff, purchased the Woodmoor Veterinary Hospital in May 2007. She graduated magna cum laude from Washington State University in 1997. After practicing in Washington State for 10 years, Dr. Huston and her family decided to move to beautiful Colorado. She believes in practicing the best medicine and creating an environment in which clients and staff feel comfortable and appreciated. Dr. Huston especially enjoys getting to know her patients and their human families.

When not at the hospital, Dr. Huston likes camping, traveling, reading, and spending time with her husband, four children, three dogs, and six cats. She is never one to miss out on a good laugh and has worked to create a fun friendly atmosphere at the hospital.

A couple of things that the staff love about Dr. Huston are her fun-loving nature and the fantastic annual barbecue she throws for everyone.

Dr. Lianne Baker

Dr. Baker has been practicing veterinary medicine since 1997. She attended the University of Virginia and graduated with Bachelor’s Degrees in Biology and Chemistry while competing in track and cross country. She was also on the Atlantic Coast Conference Student-Athlete Honor Roll and the Dean’s List.

She then attended Ontario College, University of Guelph in Canada and graduated with Distinction from the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program where she achieved the Dean’s List Honors each semester.

Dr. Baker may be familiar to many of our clients because she worked at Woodmoor Veterinary Hospital from 2002-2005. We are very happy and privileged to have her back with us!

Dr. Baker and her husband, Brad, spend the majority of their free time raising their two young daughters. They enjoy hiking with their dogs and Dr. Baker also enjoys competing in mountain biking events.

Dr. James grew up in the west Denver area near the foothills.   Mary earned her degrees in biology and literature at the University of Denver.

She enjoyed living and working in Wyoming, Southern California and the Four Corners region before beginning veterinary school.  Her respect for the human-animal bond and its importance in people’s lives motivated Dr. James to follow her calling and attend Colorado State University’s School of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. James practiced general and emergency medicine in Northern Idaho and the Denver Metro area before joining Woodmoor Veterinary Hospital.  She has strong interests in Oncology, Internal Medicine and Soft Tissue Injury.

Dr. James lives in Castle Rock with her daughters, their dogs, cats, horses and chickens.  She enjoys camping, hiking and horseback riding and appreciates the life lived under these Western skies.

Dr. Curtis joined Woodmoor Veterinary Hospital in August of 2011.  She graduated from Oregon State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Washington State University.  Dr. Curtis keeps busy breeding her Newfoundlands and showing them in rally, carting, obedience, agility and water rescue!  She also takes her dogs to the annual AKC National Specialty show.

Did you know that according to the AKC the Newfoundland is a master at long-distance swimming and has true lifesaving instincts in the water?  In Newfoundland he was used as a working dog to pull nets for the fishermen and to haul wood from the forest…maybe he brings Dr. Curtis’ wood in for her!  He also did heavy labor, such as powering the blacksmith’s bellows.  Newfs are also an intelligent breed and are readily trained so if you need your blacksmith bellows powered this might be your dog!

Dr. Curtis also works at Fort Carson Veterinary facility where their primary purpose is to care for government owned animals such as Military Working Dogs, Color Guard Horses and Moral Welfare and Recreation Horses. 

We are happy to have Dr. Curtis here with us!

Management

Shelly Leyman, Office Manager and Receptionist

Shelly and her husband have been in Colorado since 2001.  Much of her free time is spent lovingly caring for their five horses, three dogs, and assorted cats.  In 2009 at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo Dan and Shelly adopted a mustang through the BLM program.  He’s a wonderful horse and handsome, too!

Besides caring for all their critters, Shelly has also been known to help care for her neighbor’s animals! Dedicated to Woodmoor since 2004, she enjoys horseback riding, rodeos and shoe shopping.  Shelly and her husband are active members of the Kit Carson Riding Club, too.

When Shelly started working at Woodmoor her dream job finally came true. As an animal lover she had always wanted to work at a veterinary hospital. Her favorite part  of the job is playing with the puppies, no, the kittens, oh wait, the border collies, umm, maybe the heelers or the McNabs…well, let’s just say she’s never met a dog or cat she couldn’t love on. Woodmoor is so pleased to have Shelly as part of the team.

Email Shelly!

Technicians

Cindy Green, CVT

A Colorado native, Cindy graduated from Bel-Rea Institute of Veterinary Technology in 1992.

She is the backbone of the hospital, having been with us since November 2000. Cindy is great at helping the receptionists answer questions and has a great sense of humor! Cindy adopted our hospital mascot, Miss Kitty, in 2008. Animals are her life.

Out in the fresh Colorado air, she spends time with her five horses, three dogs, and five cats. Never one to rest, and with all of her animals that require her constant attention, she is quite busy. She plays with the dogs, chases the cats, and always has some work to do on the barn.

Jyana Fowler, CVT

Jyana Fowler began working at Woodmoor Veterinary Hospital in October of 2011.  She obtained her CVT license from Pierce College in 2004.   Jyana is originally from Oregon and moved to Castle Rock, Colorado in 2009 with her husband Shayne and Amour, her American bull dog.  Jyana enjoys being outdoors, riding horses and dirt bikes, but not at the same time, which the horse appreciates!

Kellie Smith, Technician

Kellie joined us in September 2008. Originally from Michigan, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Central Michigan University.

Deciding that she wanted to live in the mountains, she packed up her dog, cat, and snake and moved to Colorado with her fiance Erik (Kellie and Erik got married in 2010).   Now a part of the Woodmoor Team, we are all pleased to have her with us. Kellie has added so much to the clinic with her ready smile, unflappable personality, and extensive dog training knowledge.

She loves hiking the Colorado wilderness with her dogs and is looking forward to exploring Colorado by horseback, too. Kellie takes riding lessons, participates in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, and trains puppies for Leader Dogs for the Blind (www.leaderdog.org).  Kellie has raised Murphy, Chauncey, Huron and Marshall and is now raising her fifth leader dog, Zombo.

The technicians can help you with medical questions, updates from a treatment, re-checks, medical progress, and prescription refills. Have a question? Email them today!

Receptionists

Please contact the receptionists at any time regarding general questions, food orders, pricing, records, and boarding. Please call our reception staff to make a medical, surgical, or boarding appointment.  Our groomer Karen makes her own grooming appointments.

Katrina Benson

Katrina started at Woodmoor in May 2011.   She has lived in Colorado since 2003 (that’s a lot of years in dog years).  If you ask Katrina  where she’s from she’ll show you on her hand…that’s because she grew up in Mittigan (that refers to the “Mitten” state of Michigan).  Did you know that the word Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning “large mitten”, okay, it’s really for “large water” or “large lake”.  Your factoid of the day..those from the Midwest define where they grew up, went to school, etc. by using their hand as a map.  Who needs a GPS!  She went to college in Indiana (right at the top of her wrist) where she received a degree in Biology; not in Anatomy since she kept getting confused and calling her wrist Indiana!

Katrina currently lives in Colorado Springs with her husband, Rich, and their three cats (Henry, Brain and Dharma) and dog (Petunia).  Katrina has a lot of experience working with animals since she used to work at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.   She can tell you lots of interesting stories about lions, elephants and monkeys.  Once upon a time Katrina went into the lions’ den while the veterinarian performed surgery!  Of course the lion was sedated, but it was still scary and something not many of us have experienced.  

 

Tina Jones

Tina and her husband Dean moved from Maui to Colorado in 2006. While living in Hawaii she learned the language and the culture, but when she got to Colorado she had to learn about living at a high elevation….whew!

Dean and Tina have a wonderful home in Larkspur surrounded by trees.  They have three horses, one mule, five dogs and two cats.  Tina likes to spend time with her family and her church family.  She also enjoys riding her Paint horse, Lakota, taking photos and playing fetch and catch with her dogs.

Tina’s “labradorable,” Hula, is a Therapy Dog and is part of Monument Library’s Paws to Read Program.  Tina’s youngest dog Hondo, a goofy Border Collie, loves agility and is also part of the Paws to Read Program.  He’s been known to jump through his tire jump and wait for praise, then jump again and wait for another round of applause!  Tina has plans to train him as a therapy dog, too because he’s quite a love bug!  Come see Hula and Hondo at the library!

Veronica Martin

Veronica joined us in 2011 and is a great addition to the team.  She has two wonderful children, Isaiah and Carly Rose who are a delight to her.  Veronica has been around animals her whole life and really misses having horses, but she currently has a dog and two…wait, she just adopted another one so that makes three kitties.   Being a single Mom means her hobbies are whatever her kids are doing…winter hobbies are basketball and dance, spring hobbies are T-Ball and dance, and fall hobbies are soccer…and you guessed it, dance.  Veronica loves riding horses, riding motorcycles, off roading, hiking and listening to country music.  We always hear great kid stories when working with Veronica, but don’t tell Isaiah and Carly that! 

Substitute Receptionists

Janie Morris

Janie has been our part-time receptionist on and off since 2006.  She has also been great at filling in for vacation times or when one of the front desk staff is ill.  That really helps because one receptionist is never enough!

Janie is married and the mother of two grown children and both of her kids are getting married in 2011!  Janie and her husband Bill, a pilot, have two pets, her daughter’s cat, Curry, and a dog named Ginger.  They call them the Spice Girls!

Janie was born in Tennessee, raised in the Panama Canal Zone and, as a Military spouse, she has lived in many Air Force base locations.  In her spare time Janie expresses her creativity in quilting and stained glass work.

Grooming

Karen Allison, Groomer

Karen is a Colorado native who grew up in the Monument area.  She loves dogs and cats so grooming them is a delight!  Karen has been grooming dogs since 1986, that’s 168 years in dog years!

She enjoys bringing her Pomeranian Princess, Mon Ami, aka Stensihl Narie, to work with her. Stensihl is the “quality control” expert and loves to sing with Karen!  Karen also brings her sweet labrador mix Waldo to work and he is a great puppy sitter and trainer for Kellie’s leader dogs.

Karen’s favorite person is her son Gus.  He brings her the most joy and she has several pictures in her grooming room to prove it.  Gus always asks a billion questions like why don’t spiders stick in their own web? ( Scientists believe there are two reasons. One is that some spiders have slippery oil on their bodies so it won’t stick plus since they made the web they avoid the sticky parts!) B etcha didn’t know that!  He’s a smart little kid! How about this one:  Why don’t ducks sink when they swim?  Or why does soap makes bubbles? If you can answer either of those questions you get a free pedicure for your dog or cat! You may call for appointments, pricing, and general grooming questions or send an email to staff@woodmoorvet.com.

Pet Lodge

Any receptionist can help you with your boarding reservations or questions. Reservations may be made at any time for any vacation you have planned. Please let us know as soon as possible if your plans change or you need to cancel so we can accommodate another guest. You may also email us with questions!

Carol Lassiter, Pet Lodge Supervisor

Carol and her husband recently moved back to Colorado.  They enjoy hiking and spending as much time with their family and pets as possible.  Carol has a great sense of humor and is wonderful with all our boarding guests! If you are considering boarding your pets feel free to come in for a tour of the kennel.

Carol also cleans the facility and she is one speedy cleaner!  Her husband says he doesn’t even

Josh DeVega, Kennel Technician

Josh is a native Californian, but has lived everywhere all of his life…Japan, North Carolina, Hawai‘i, Virginia and now Colorado.  Can you guess he’s from a Military family?  Hopefully he will be in Colorado for a long time.

Josh has three dogs and a cat at home.  His hobbies include building computers and he used to do woodworking, but has lost his work area to his brother’s automotive repair hobby.